Detailed instant noodle reviews and ratings – watch, read, and discover your next favorite.
Next in this year’s Marutai Marathon with a style of ramen I’ve never reviewed on the channel before, which is always exciting. This time around, it’s Marutai Yokohama Soy Sauce Tonkotsu Ramen, a product based on iekei-style ramen that originated in Yokohama. This is part of Marutai’s long-running Local Series, where they attempt to replicate famous regional ramen styles from across Japan, and it appears to be a newer entry in that lineup.
I’m moving on from the Marutai x Sapporo Ichiban collaboration products and into some of the newer Japanese Marutai releases that started showing up this past year, starting with something completely new to me: Marutai Chilled Chinese Noodles, also known as Hiyashi Chuka. This is my first time trying this style of dish, and while it’s currently December and absolutely freezing outside, this is a Marutai product and part of my annual countdown to Christmas tradition, so it still fits right in. The focus here is whether the base flavor itself is worth buying, which means I’m reviewing this exactly as it comes in the package, without adding any extra toppings.
I’m kicking off my annual December Marutai tradition with a Sapporo Ichiban x Marutai Tonkotsu Ramen mega-review! These are three collaboration products that, from what I can put together, are manufactured by Marutai with Sapporo Ichiban/Sanyo Foods acting as the North American distributor: Hakata-Style Original Tonkotsu, Kagoshima-Style Creamy Tonkotsu, and Kumamoto-Style Garlic Tonkotsu ramen. This whole holiday marathon started in my first year on YouTube when my wife bought me 12 Marutai varieties and I did a 12-days countdown, and now this is what December looks like on the channel and website. Marutai is my favorite instant ramen company, and I’m always excited to catch up on new releases.
Momofuku Sesame Miso Noodles mark the first major shift in the Momofuku noodle lineup in quite some time, and I am reviewing them today because this flavor launches alongside some big changes to the entire brand, which I covered in my September 2025 news post. Basically, Momofuku has a new manufacturing partner and has made adjustments meant to improve sauce coverage and reduce spice. I enjoyed a couple of the old Momofuku recipes but always wished for a few improvements, and this new direction promises to address those.
Samyang Buldak Taco Ramen is one of the biggest instant noodle releases to come out during the several months I was on hiatus, and the amount of hype surrounding it online made this an obvious choice for a new review. Tex-Mex ramen mashups are having a moment right now, and the idea of Buldak exploring that trend with a taco flavored option feels like something that was bound to happen eventually. The product description calls this a savory gentle heat built around toasted cumin, chili, and a rich taco flavor, which sets an expectation that this will land far outside the typical Korean flavor profile. With all of that in mind, I approached this review fully expecting something new but not necessarily something very intense in terms of spice.
Nissin Cup Noodles Turkey Dinner Flavor arrives just in time for the November holiday season, and I am jumping back into video reviews, starting with this one because it's a limited-time offering. This was released alongside the rebranded Pumpkin Pie version, which is identical to the Pumpkin Spice flavor from a few years back. I reviewed that in episode 43, so anyone curious about it can check that out.
Since Nongshim Shin Ramyun is what started this channel, I am ending my Shin countdown from the last few episodes with something really special. I'm going to review both of these recent Nongshim x Jay Fai Shin Ramyun Tom Yum flavors that have been made in collaboration with legendary Thai street chef Jay Fai.
This one today is probably one of the more interesting varieties of the Nongshim countdown to episode 200 and it's also taken the internet by storm recently. It is a product that requires a little bit of explanation if you haven't heard of it: this is Nongshim Shin Ramyun Toomba Stir Fry.
Today's review is going to be an interesting one, I hope. I'll be reviewing and comparing the relatively new American version of Nongshim Shin Ramyun Stir Fry spicy beef flavor with its South Korean Shin Ramyun Stir Fry counterpart. A while back I ordered this Shin Ramyun stir fry flavor from South Korea and I didn't get around to reviewing it at the time because other things caught my attention, you know how it goes. Since then, Shin Stir Fry has started popping up in other places around the world, including on American store shelves in new English friendly packaging. Unlike some situations where the American version is made in California, these are actually both manufactured in South Korea but one's specifically for sale in the USA and one's specifically for sale in South Korea. You'd think the ingredients would be largely the same just like they were in the Shin Red and Shin "The Red" that I just reviewed, but they're not. I'll get into the key differences below.
We're counting down to episode 200 with more Nongshim Shin reviews! Today is a double-review of some of the hottest entries in the Shin product line. We've got the version sold in America, Nongshim Shin Ramyun Red Fiery Spicy Beef flavor, and we've got the version sold overseas, Nongshim Shin Ramyun "The Red." Now, I personally, along with many others on the internet, have been calling the original Shin Ramyun "Shin Red" for years now, but that was never its official name. It was something we referred to it as colloquially. So now that these products exist, I guess we all have to stop doing that! There are officially two Shin Reds now, and these are both super spicy versions of the original Shin Ramyun recipe.